What rust actually is, and what it takes to remove it.
A typical South Florida driveway has 3 to 8 rust marks within five years of installation. They come from one source: lawn sprinklers running on well water with dissolved iron, droplets evaporating on concrete and stucco. Each droplet leaves a microscopic deposit. After a few months, you have orange tear-shapes drawn across the front of the house.
Pressure washing doesn’t touch it. Bleach makes it worse. The only thing that works is a controlled acid reduction.
Our process.
- Photo and dwell test. A small test patch confirms which chemistry to use.
- Pre-wet plants. Bougainvillea, hibiscus and crotons get a heavy water shield.
- Local application. Brush-applied or low-pressure misted directly on the stain.
- Dwell. 8–12 minutes. We watch it. The orange goes pale yellow, then green-grey, then clear.
- Neutralizer rinse. Soda ash or sodium bicarbonate solution to neutralize residual acid.
- Triple water rinse. Pull a pH paper sample at the end.
Stain gone, surface pH-neutral, plants unbothered.
What we treat.
- Sprinkler rust on driveways, walkways, garage aprons (oxalic — most common)
- Sprinkler rust on stucco (oxalic — requires gentler application to avoid etching paint)
- Fertilizer burn marks on pavers and concrete (F9 BARC blend)
- Battery acid pooling under outdoor generators or marine batteries (sodium bicarbonate first, then F9)
- Rust runoff under metal handrails and pool cages (manganese / iron blends)
- Tannin from oak and palm seeds (sodium percarbonate — different family, similar technique)
Pricing.
- Single area (up to ~3 sq ft): $99
- Driveway full-front (multiple sprinkler tears, ≤ 15 ft span): $179
- Stucco wall (per side, ≤ 30 ft): $149
- Pool cage perimeter: $199
- Add-on to another service (during a soft wash or driveway clean): −40%, usually $59–129
Prevention.
The fix is the easy part. The reason it comes back is iron in the irrigation water — we don’t sell water filters, but we can tell you the system to ask your sprinkler guy about. Adjusting heads to avoid hitting hardscape buys you 2–4 years per cleaning instead of 6–12 months.
